


Mephitis mephitis

by moonboots



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Animal Transformation, Cuddling & Snuggling, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 05:12:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6039586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonboots/pseuds/moonboots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don't have so many friends that I can afford you getting them turned into rodents,” Zero glowered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mephitis mephitis

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Amielleon for the beta! Uses Japanese names.

“Zero! Zero, my honored companion!”

The thread of panic in Odin’s voice made his distress clear before he even closed in on Zero’s isolated corner of the armory. Zero looked up from his fletchings with mixed curiosity and ready annoyance-- Odin manufactured his own problems more often than not.

Now he was carrying a bag in his arms, something small struggling inside of it. The grin on his face was entirely false.

“What have you done now?” Zero asked without preamble. He was tired and he had far too much work to do; his other duties for Leon had consumed his schedule, and his weapons were a mess of stripped fletchings and broken nocks.

Odin laughed woodenly. "W-well, it takes a truly great man to admit fault--"

"If I can't understand you, I'm not helping." Zero turned back to his arrows.

"Zero--!" Odin cried. The bundle in his arms thrashed, and he struggled to keep a grip on it. "Alright, fine! It's all my fault! I made Nyx mad and he didn't duck fast enough, and she warped away, and--"

"He?" repeated Zero. "That isn’t some gremlin summoned by dark magic?"

Odin thrust the bundle at him. It growled, and he leaned back. "It's Ashura! Why do you think I came to you?"

"...what?"

Only when Odin shoved the squirming mass into his arms did he reflexively take it. The bundle wasn't a bag, he realized, but Ashura's own travel-stained cloak.

One of the folds wriggled. A paw emerged, followed by a furry white head.

The skunk continued to growl and struggle. It was almost all white, with a black blaze running from its forehead to its back. Zero’s fingers sank into its thick fur when he tried to tighten his grip.

“What the hell do you mean, this is Ashura?”

The thing looked a little like Ashura, he supposed. Its eyes were brown and feline, and Zero had never seen a skunk that was mostly white before. The tantrum it was throwing was much like him, too.

"Just keep an eye on him while I find Nyx, I'll apologize and she'll fix him right up. He'll be back to normal in a few hours, okay?"

Zero couldn’t help but openly gape at the skunk. "What did you _do?_ " 

Odin put his hands together. “My humble thanks for your assistance in cleaning up my foolish mess! You're a wonderfully loyal compatriot!”

“Wait, what the hell hap--” Odin was out the door like Nyx was already on his heels.

“Typical,” Zero muttered. Make a mess and leave his fellow retainer to take care of it. Odin could be so irresponsible.

A quiet grumbling demanded his attention. He lifted the animal and took a closer look at its face. Was it really Ashura? “I suppose I can imagine this as your true form…”

It growled and lashed its tail. Perhaps Ashura's mind was in there after all? Zero didn’t know enough about wild animals to tell.

“Ashura,” he said seriously, bringing the animal to eye level. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but--”

The animal growled and twisted violently in his hands, tearing away from him. The damn thing was smaller than it looked. Zero was left with a coating of fur on his hands as it faced him and stomped angrily, dragging its claws over the stone floor before it turned tail. 

He yelled in warning, but the stupid beast was surprisingly fast. It was out of the armory in a flash, fluffy tail waving like a flag.

“Hey, what the hell are you--” Zero left his arrows to rush after it. If it really was Ashura--Odin wasn't prone to pranks like this, but it was hard to wrap his head around--what was he playing at? Did he just like the opportunity to make trouble for Zero when there was nothing he could do to argue with him?

Or had the curse left him a dumb beast entirely? If it had, Zero was going to throw him in a box and be done with it until Odin finished bowing and scraping with Nyx.

A soldier guarding the armory gave him a strange look as he peeled out the door chasing a skunk, but Zero ignored him. The ridiculous animal was moving at a pace that challenged the speed Zero prided himself on.

Zero hissed a curse as it bounded off the cobblestone path towards the small copse of woods. He was no huntsman--it could disappear in there.

The skunk skittered to a halt as worn boots cut off its path.

“I didn’t know there were skunks here,” Mozume exclaimed, grabbing it by the rear legs and picking it up. She arrested its struggle with an arm wrapped around its body, and by the time Zero was slowing to a stop in front of her she had the creature well in hand and was examining it with an expert eye.

"Ooh, he's got a white coat! This is a real good omen in Hoshido, yanno! We'll be able to sell this skin for a lot!"

The skunk yowled, and fought furiously to get out of her arms. Mozume kept her grip with practiced ease, trailing one hand up the back of its neck. "Aww, it's ok, lil critter, I'll make it quick--"

"No!" Zero snatched it away. It scurried up his arm and burrowed under his cloak, wrapped around his neck like a terrified, furry scarf. Zero coughed. "Actually, it's a pet. It just got away from me."

"Oh!" Mozume exclaimed. "Tarnation, why didn't you say so sooner? Sorry for scaring you, sugar..." she told the animal, which remained stubbornly buried in Zero's hood.

At least that answered a few questions about how much understanding Ashura was capable of. He could tell when he was being threatened, which would be useful for keeping him from running off again.

Ashura was too large to sit comfortably around his collarbone. His fur tickled Zero’s chin, and he had the distinct feeling Mozume was trying not to laugh. You’d better be grateful, he thought as he glared at the fluffy tail in the corner of his vision.

"What do these eat?" he snapped. Mozume seemed to actually know something about the beasts, and with any luck letting her show off would distract her from how ridiculous he looked.

"I used to bait traps with fruit. They’re pretty happy eating out of the trash, though." Claws were digging into his neck. Ashura seemed like he wasn't moving, so Zero tried to support him with a hand. It was awkward, but the creature looked up at him with curious brown eyes at the touch.

"So, nothing has changed in that respect--ow!" Tiny, sharp teeth bit into his finger.

"Bad boy!" Mozume scolded. "Zero lets you snuggle and you pay 'im back with a nip? Very bad!"

Ashura started at her sharp voice, blinking owlishly. Zero struggled not to look at the quiet farmgirl the same way.

"Ya gotta be firm," Mozume nodded. "If you don't tell an animal what it did wrong right off it's not gonna understand."

“Of course,” said Zero, bemused. Ashura’s tail flicked back and forth unhappily (probably at the accusation of snuggling), but he settled back down against Zero’s neck.

"So whose pet is it? You're awfully important for babysittin'."

"...it's a task for Lord Leon," said Zero after a moment. It wasn't exactly an answer, but Mozume nodded. Thankfully, she was entirely willing to assume that the goings-on of royalty were beyond the comprehension of a simple peasant.

"But gosh, I didn't know royals kept skunks! I thought that was something we only did in the boonies. And this one's old..."

“You can tell?” An animal was an animal to Zero; any scavengers in the bowels of Nohr were fair game for dinner, not pets. He had hardly even seen skunks in the flesh before. Of the two of them, Ashura was much more experienced with the actual wilderness.

“Mmm. See his white whiskers?” Mozume reached out to stroke Ashura’s chin, pointing out paler hairs when he raised his head. “A white skunk can’t hide, so mostly they die young. He’s got some scarring, though…” He squeaked and withdrew when her fingers found a thin patch of fur on his shoulder. “Aww, he’s kind of a scaredy-cat, huh?”

“Oh, terrible,” said Zero with a grin. He ignored the annoyed tail swishing against his ear. “Won’t enter a crowded room and can hardly look a person in the eye.”

Ashura growled, but Mozume giggled. “Animals don’t do that unless they’re startin’ fights! He must trust ya an awful lot to cosy up like that, though.”

Ashura saved him from responding to that by scrambling to his feet to break away again.

Zero was faster. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he crooned, grasping the animal tightly to his chest. “After all, who knows who could get their hands on you if you got ahead of me again? Pieri hates vermin…”

The skunk’s eyes darted back and forth, and after a moment of deliberation he went limp in Zero’s hands. Prince Marx’s oldest retainer was the stuff of nightmares.

Mozume lit up. “Benoit’s at the forge today--maybe you could get him a collar there, in case he gets away again. An’ I just know you’ll get a good deal, he’ll melt at this cute little guy.”

Ashura grumbled in warning, but nothing could stop the glint in Zero’s eye. “A collar! What an _exciting_ idea. Yes, that seems _just right_ for you.”

 

* * *

 

Zero had a lie waiting on his lips when he stepped into the forge, and it all went up in smoke when the mountain of a man at the anvil gave him a long stare and rumbled, “What happened to Ashura?”

“Wh--” Zero goggled, completely off-balance. He stared at the skunk in his hands, as though he had given Benoit some sort of signal. The transformed adventurer looked just as confused. “How did you know?”

“It’s obviously him.”

Well. That much was true, but revealing the truth was always like biting into a lemon for Zero. “It’s a long story,” he ground out. “Curse. I don’t even know if he knows what’s happening.”

Benoit looked at the grumbling skunk. “He does.”

“You can understand him?” This was shaping up to be a completely terrible day--Zero didn’t like being in shock before dinner, much less three times. It was going to be awful for his reputation.

“I’ve always been around animals, ever since I was a boy. He’s still Ashura, so he’s very easy to understand…”

Zero dragged a hand down his face. He knew the basic profiles of all of Kamui’s most favored soldiers--he should have remembered much sooner that Benoit had been a farmboy who still managed the horses with more care than the deftest stablehand. Ashura didn’t have many friends, but lonesome people tended to end up sulking in the same places, especially ones that liked the forest.

“So if you can understand him, why is he being such a pain in my ass?” he growled, holding the skunk out with one hand. Ashura’s tail lashed as he made a grumpy mewl.

"...you're loud," said Benoit after a long moment. "And he was scared. Skunks can’t see well."

“Loud,” repeated Zero in disgust. He glared at Ashura. “You nearly got yourself exterminated because I was _loud?_ ”

"And you were holding him wrong. He can't breathe like that.”

Benoit slowly reached forward. Zero was annoyed enough to simply offer Ashura up, and he took the animal by the scruff of the neck and gently repositioned him so that he was being cradled against Zero's chest rather than being held like a sack of grain. Ashura blinked in surprise, as if he hadn't expected comfort to be an option.

“How sweet,” said Zero with simpering disgust. “I'd rather just put him down. Is he going to run off to get himself killed again if I do?”

Ashura chittered as Benoit’s eyes bore into him.

“...no,” Benoit said at length. “He understands now. Everything was disorienting at first.” He scratched between Ashura’s ears with one thick finger.

Zero watched as Ashura lifted his head with a happy trill, pushing his face against Benoit’s hand. “He’s certainly _acting_ like an animal.”

“Maybe it’s easier,” mused Benoit. “All he needs to feel good is a scratch behind the ears. It’s a lot simpler than...this.” He gestured vaguely around him, summing up the sorry state of humanity with a shrug.

“Yes, being a rodent sounds _great_ ,” said Zero dryly. “Mozume almost snapped his neck because she thought he was vermin.”

Benoit gasped. The worry glimmering in his eyes looked bizarre in his pugilistic face. “That’s awful! Here, if you use this, people should know…”

 

* * *

 

Ashura still scratched at the leather collar around his neck, but he seemed much calmer after 'speaking' with Benoit. For his part, Zero was glad for the confirmation that the animal truly was his friend. Carrying a skunk around felt ridiculous no matter what Odin had said.

Zero wondered if asking Leon about the spell would get Odin in trouble. Though he worked with two practitioners of dark magic, the finer points of cursing escaped him. Odin obviously considered whatever had happened beyond his abilities, but perhaps Leon’s expertise would be useful.

As he watched Ashura scratch his chin with a claw, he decided against it. Ashura was well in hand, Odin would find Nyx quickly enough, and this would all be done with by the end of the day. Besides, having blackmail material for Odin would be valuable in the future.

There was a familiar exclamation behind him, and Zero turned to see Odin himself.

Alone.

"Zero! Zero, excellent, I was just looking for you--"

" _You_ were looking for _me?_ I thought you were supposed to be looking for Nyx!" Odin was sweating like he’d been sprinting ever since leaving Zero at the armory, but there was a distinct lack of tiny sorceress produced by his efforts.

"Well, you're much better at tracking people, so I was wondering if you had any idea where--"

"No," bit out Zero. "You're telling me what's going on, _now_."

Odin groaned and scrubbed a hand through his hair. His circlet was left drunkenly askew. "Isn't it more important that I find her to break the curse?"

" _Odin_."

“Fine!" Odin sighed explosively. "I was heading for the baths and invited Ashura to join me after happening upon him at the target range. Unfortunately, I had neglected to check the times, and we walked in on Nyx…”

Zero’s eye narrowed. He had been on the wrong side of Nyx’s tome before, but she had only lost her temper after extended prodding. An innocent--if stupid--mistake wasn’t enough to get her to curse someone out of their species. “What _else_ did you do?”

"Nyx was naturally most upset about us seeing her, uh, body. In fact, she said we must have been disappointed there was nothing to peep _on_ , as it were.”

That sarcasm sounded more like a normal reaction of hers. He raised a skeptical eyebrow, waiting for the rest of the story.

"Of course we apologized! But I couldn't let a lady sit distressed about her own body. Why, one of the most powerful women I ever knew was also the flattest."

Zero stared in disbelief. "And you told her that."

"It would have sounded fine if Lazward said it!" exclaimed Odin with a red face.

"No, it wouldn't!” Zero shook his head in disgust. That friend of Odin's was a terrible influence. “So if you're the one who stuck his foot in his mouth, why's he the one with four legs?"

Odin dropped his head, abashed. "I ducked faster.”

“I don't have so many friends that I can afford you getting them turned into rodents,” Zero glowered. Ashura huffed in agreement, sitting up in his arms.

“Yes, I'm very sorry! But, Zero, please--?”

Pathetic. “The library, you useless moron. Any time Nyx isn’t in her rooms, she’s in the _library_. Do I have to _think_ for you?”

“The library, of course!” As usual, Odin seemed not to hear Zero’s ruder words. “Many thanks!”

He peeled off without another word, and _then_ Zero realized he was still holding the damn skunk.

“Odin, wa--”

A cacophony arose from the east.

They looked up in unison, and Zero felt a growl build in Ashura’s chest.

Warning bells rang out. “It’s the phantoms!” hollered the watchman from the wall. “The phantom army is attacking!”

Zero swore. His arrows were shot. He needed to get to the armory, he needed to get to _Leon_ \--and he was stuck holding an animal.

“Damn you, Odin…” he growled. There was no time to chase after him, not when he was unarmed.

He glanced left and right as the castle came to life, members of the army running out of the barracks and scrambling to arm themselves.

“The wall’s been breached! They’re through the--”

The alarm bell stopped ringing, its last echoes ominously fading into the clink of armor and steel.

There was a barrel by the wall. Ashura squeaked as Zero dropped him into it.

“Stay,” he hissed. “If you understand a word I say, stay there and I’ll be back.” He took off for the armory at a sprint.

 

* * *

 

He wasn’t there. Of course he wasn’t there.

The barrel was tipped on its side, and a crate next to it had been smashed. The ghostly forces that inhabited the Astral Realm had broken dangerously far past their defenses, the fighting coming nearly to the throne itself. Aside from a handful of initial casualties, Kamui’s army had escaped mostly unscathed. It had been the monstrous range of the enemy’s wyverns, demonic eyes fixed on the heart of their castle, that brought them so far in more so than losses of their own defenders.

Fuck, fuck, _fuck._

Zero took a step this way, and then that. Even if he had been an exceptional tracker--which he wasn’t, not when it came to grass and dirt instead of informants and tailing people--there were signs of combat everywhere. It was impossible to find the tracks of one stupid animal under the heavy bootprints of armored knights or the steel-shod hooves of cavalry. Even Mozume likely couldn’t have followed him, not that he wanted her seeing him in a panic again anyway.

Instead, he made for the castle. To hell with Odin’s good graces--Leon could probably whip up some kind of tracking spell. As much as he didn’t want to distract his lord with this matter, it was the best idea he had; he hadn’t seen seen Odin at Leon’s side in the battle.

Leon himself had accepted that Odin had likely been cut off by enemies before he could reach them, but Zero was through with the dark mage’s lack of responsibility. He’d been left by himself protecting Leon and left holding the bag with Ashura and look what had happened!

He took a deep breath to calm himself as he entered the castle. Leon could fix this, he told himself. Pieri was the only person violent enough to actually kill a random animal that wasn’t bothering her and Marx had her cleaning up enemy stragglers outside the walls. There was yet some chance to fix this.

Zero's nose wrinkled. Something smelled awful--not like the rot of refuse piles, but more chemically sharp. It was a unique sort of disgusting, the rare type that he didn’t recognize.

When Harold stepped around the corner and the stench grew stronger, Zero found himself unsurprised.

"What did you step in this time?" he growled. Dealing with Harold's boisterous insight was annoying enough when he didn't stink, and Zero had enough to worry about besides.

"Ha! Good to see you your usual self after the battle, Zero," Harold greeted. Sniffing his wrist, he had the grace to look a little embarrassed. "So Lady Elise's soap didn't work...I'll have to try something else."

"Did you have a run-in with some kind of stench phantom?" Zero found himself curious in spite of his ill mood. Never before had he smelled something quite so terrible, and he was intimately familiar with every disgusting byproduct the human body produced, willingly or otherwise.

"No, it was much more mundane. When I was clearing away fallen enemies, I found an animal. I didn't even think skunks lived in this realm."

Zero's head whipped around. "What? Where?" His blood went cold as he remembered Mozume's first instinct. "Did you kill him?"

Harold blinked. "No, Lady Elise saw that it was wounded and wanted to take care of it. But I must have scared it when I grabbed it, because..." He winced, fanning his shirt. "And I took a bath right away, too. Lucky that it missed Lady Elise and Elfie."

"So he's with Lady Elise?" said Zero eagerly.

"Yes, she took it back to her rooms with Elfie because the human wounded didn't need her. Is it yours? Elfie said it had a collar, but the spray was in my eyes..."

Zero waved a hand. "Later."

He turned on his heel and was around the corner in a flash of cloak before Harold could blink.

If Zero walked quickly through the halls to Elise’s room, it was because he was more than ready to get this whole mess over with. Considering the way the day had gone so far, a rogue golem would probably destroy the castle if he dawdled. He was going to take Ashura, stick him in a box, and leave him in his own bedroom until Odin brought Nyx back. Any whining about the treatment from the older man once he was back on two legs would be easy enough to ignore.

At Elise’s door, he took a moment to straighten his cloak and catch his breath. Elise, he was confident about dealing with. Her second retainer, on the other hand...Zero knocked.

It took only a few seconds for the door to swing inwards; Elfie was as attentive a vassal as always.  
  
"...Zero." The knight greeted him with flat eyes. "Why are you here."

There was no curiosity in her iron gaze, only barely veiled hostility. Zero had long since burned through most of her patience, and after the surprise attack she looked to be still ready for a threat.  
  
"Don't worry about your mistress's virtue,” he chuckled, leaning against the doorframe. “I heard you have something of mine."

"The animal? Lady Elise is playing with it.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What does that have to do with you?" Zero privately thought of her as slow, but she was dangerously canny when it came to Elise.

"I was charged with watching him."

"So you let it run away and break a leg? Harold found it under one of the enemy corpses."

"You know that was a surprise attack. I couldn't keep track of him in the battle."

Elfie allowed that with a grunt, but still looked skeptical. "Who charged you with watching a skunk? I've never heard of one as a pet. People eat them."

"Do I question nobility?" Zero shrugged. "I'm not here to abduct your lady's pet. Just let him get a look at me and you'll see."

"Elfie, who's at the door?"

The knight's face softened as she looked to the side. "It's Zero, my lady. He says he's responsible for the animal." Elfie reluctantly stepped back to allow him to enter.

"Huuuuh?"

It took Zero a moment to recognize Ashura beneath the ribbons he was festooned with. The primped and combed skunk was sitting on the silk pillow atop Elise's vanity. A frilly bow was tied around his neck, and another at the tip of his tail, which had been woven in a tight Chevalier braid.

He sat up at the sight of Zero, and slipped away from Elise's hands to throw himself to the floor. The landing was drunken and his gait uneven, but he scurried to Zero's boots while making happy little squawks.

"Don't hurt yourself again, Fluffy!" Elise cried.

"He's a tough one," said Zero, reaching down. 'Fluffy' had no compunctions about being picked up this time. There was a wrapping around one back leg to support recent healing, and he squeaked and glared when Zero poked it experimentally.

"So he really is yours." Elise stood from her vanity. "He had a collar so I knew someone was taking care of him, but I never knew you had a pet."

"I was tasked with watching him, but he misplaced himself in the surprise attack," said Zero vaguely. Elise actually _was_ in a position to ask Leon what exactly he had been tasked with, and she looked as though she was having enough fun to be curious about the odd little animal. To cut off further questions, he hastened to ask, "You found him after the battle?"

"We were looking for wounded and Harold found him! He was so scared that Harold got sprayed..." She reached out to scratch Ashura's ears. He settled back into Zero's arms, blinking slowly. "I never thought they could be pets, but he was so sweet after I healed him. I just had to clean him up. What's his real name?"

"Uhh..." Zero thought fast--nobody else had asked that, and Ashura's actual name nearly came out of his mouth. What did people name pets? Odin was much better at creativity on the fly. "He really is Fluffy. Excellent guess, my lady."

"I told you he looked like a Fluffy, Elfie!" Elise beamed.

"I thought it looked more like a dustbunny..."

"He had a tough day, so don't make fun of him--aww!" Her voice dropped to a whisper, and Zero glanced down. Ashura's eyes had stopped opening. Curled up in Zero’s arms, he had fallen asleep.

“Are you gonna take him home now?” asked Elise, stepping back. “Could I see him again sometime?”

Suddenly, Zero could feel Elfie’s acid eyes boring into the back of his neck. “He lives far away.” Under normal circumstances he would find entertainment in telling her she would never see him again, but the need for diplomacy gentled his tongue. Elfie wouldn’t let him take Ashura at all if she thought he was doing it just to see her lady cry.

“Oh.” Elise’s face fell, and the itch at the back of his neck grew stronger. “I’m glad I could help him, at least. He was so good with dress-up.”

I’ll bet you were, thought Zero as he straightened the bow around Ashura’s neck. The older man could be such a pushover when it came to kids. It was no wonder he’d never gotten far in the criminal world.

“Perhaps you could get another,” he offered when Elfie’s gaze didn’t let up. She was making him as solicitous as the old man himself. “Mozume told me some people in her village kept them as pets.”

“Ooh!” The princess brightened. “That sounds so cute! I’m sure nobody could be as sweet as Fluffy, but that tail is so fun to play with.”

“Yes,” said Zero dryly. That ornately decorated tail was loosely curled against his wrist now. “Thank you again for, ah, reuniting us, my lady, but I need to be taking him back now.”

Elise still looked a little mournful as she gently stroked Ashura’s muzzle, but she nodded. “Bye, Fluffy,” she said softly, then looked expectantly at Elfie.

The knight stared at her for a moment and sighed, her face softening. “Bye, Fluffy,” she echoed, giving him a much more perfunctory pat. Ashura was sleeping too soundly to notice.

“You’re absolutely ridiculous,” Zero murmured when the door was closed behind him. “Get lost on a battlefield and end up in the lap of luxury, see if I ever let you live this down…”

It was back to his original plan, then, before something else horrible could happen--lock Ashura up in his bedroom and wait this out. The older man probably needed the rest, anyway.

 

* * *

 

The world exploded in a riot of color.

Ashura gasped as he came back to himself, suddenly short of breath. Something tight around his neck was tugged loose, and he coughed as he sagged gratefully to his knees.

He was looking at hands, he realized with some surprise, his own hands, and though his mind whirled with experiences he couldn’t fully understand he knew that was important.

There was a polite clearing of the throat in front of him. He looked up to see Nyx averting her eyes. Behind her stood Odin, eyes bright with excitement. “My apologies again,” Nyx said. “ _You_ are not the one who deserved this. Any disorientation shouldn’t last; I’ll take my leave.”

He blinked owlishly as she turned, unsure of what to do until something poked him in the shoulder.

“You can talk, you know.” Zero’s voice seemed so much more velvety now.

“Ah--!” Ashura touched his face, feeling a mouth and nose and lips instead of a furry muzzle. “I’m…”

“Back to normal.” Zero sat beside him and tugged a blue cloak over his shoulders. “How much do you remember?”

“I was…” Ashura closed his eyes--the color of the world was overwhelming him with distraction. His memories were a spiral of confusion after deciding to join Odin for a bath, and finding Nyx instead. Much of his recollection was dimly lit and muffled, as if seen and heard through smoked glass. He remembered Zero’s arms distinctly, he knew. And his scent. The cloak around his shoulders smelled like that, in fact.

His leg hurt, he noticed, and only when he looked down to see the deep blotches of purple and blue did he realize he was naked.

It took an even longer moment for it to register that he wasn’t _supposed_ to be. He yelped, clutching the cloak tightly around himself.

“Ah, so you do remember what it’s like to be a man.” Zero plucked a diamond pin from his hair. “Now, if only I’d been a fly on the wall for _this_ part, Fluffy.”

Ashura stared at it. That he _did_ remember with sudden clarity. Sitting on Elise’s vanity, letting her comb his fur out after cleaning him up--before that, healing him with gentle care, and before that--

“Oh, gods.” He covered his face. “ _Harold_ \--I can’t believe I actually...”

“Gave into your animal instincts?” Zero’s knowing grin held too much.

Odin looked curiously between them. “You did what?”

“Don’t you dare!” Ashura exclaimed before Zero could say a word. “This is humiliating enough!”

Zero chuckled. “Maybe I’ll have mercy on you for now. Seeing you looking so pretty is a nice reward.”

“Yes, where _did_ that ribbon come from?” asked Odin. “You were asleep when I came in, but you were exceptionally decorated.”

“Ribbon?” Ashura glanced down and...yes, there was a large, floppy bow tied around his neck, only slightly loosened. No wonder he’d had trouble breathing at first. He tugged it free with embarrassment. “Lady Elise must’ve…”

There was still something around his neck. Odin’s eyebrows went up, and he hid a reaction with a polite cough.

Ashura raised a hand to his throat and found a leather collar.

“Zero…” he said dangerously, face burning crimson.

“It was your own fault for running off.” Zero raised his hands innocently. “It wasn’t even my own suggestion; Mozume said it was the best way to keep someone from skinning your apparently valuable hide.”

Ashura growled. He did remember that now, sort of. He remembered sudden complete certainty that he was about to die and burying his face in Zero’s neck, breathing his scent until the fear passed. Alright, so maybe he couldn’t be _that_ mad. Still, Zero looked too damn smug as Ashura fumbled with the collar.

“Forgotten how to use your fingers?” he teased. Ashura only swore, and after a moment Zero leaned forward to help.

He blew out a grateful sigh when Zero finally took it off and he could truly breathe again. “What a day,” he muttered, rubbing at the raw red lines the collar had left.

“You don’t know the half of it.” Zero fixed Odin with a sharp glare. “If it wasn’t for your idiotic comment…”

“I already said I was sorry!” Odin yelped.

“When he could understand you?”

Odin had the grace to look ashamed. “Y-yes, Ashura, I’m terribly sorry for your experience. Are you feeling better now?”

“I guess. I’m still a little off, though.” Ashura knew he should probably be more angry, but he felt strangely distant from the moments before the curse struck. He leaned into warmth. Maybe it was a consequence of going in and out of an animal head--he couldn’t remember feeling a lot of anger under the curse, not like he remembered the extremes of terror and pain and pleasure. “Where are my clothes, anyway?”

Odin was giving him a strange look, enough to make Ashura a little worried he’d sprouted a tail again. “Uh...still in the bath house, I think,” he said, standing quickly. “I’ll go get them, of course. I’ll be back...later.” And he was out the door in a rush.

After several moments of staring thoughtfully at the door, Ashura realized that the warmth his head was pillowed on was Zero’s collarbone.

He jerked back in embarrassment. Leaning into Zero had felt completely natural--comforting, even. The outlaw was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Ashura sputtered. “I guess--maybe I got used to--”

“It’s alright,” Zero purred. “The simple pleasures, right?”

The arm Zero slung around his shoulders felt welcome in a way that the touch of other people rarely did. He smelled like something sharp and smoky and Ashura couldn’t imagine wanting to push him away, couldn’t imagine wanting to do anything other than bury his face in his neck again. "It's kind of nice," he mumbled, doing his best to keep his need from showing.

"And you owe me after I carried you around for half the day." There was a stubby braid left over in his hair that Zero's fingers lit upon. Pleasant heat bloomed in Ashura’s stomach as Zero nimbly slid the hairclip off and began to comb through the stiff locks. He struggled to hold in the sigh that built in his chest. "I don't want to hear any complaints about how I take my payment."

Ashura gave up, slumping into his warm body. It was too hard to pretend. “You’re never going to forget this, are you?”

Zero gave a low chuckle that rumbled through him. "Doubtful."

Ashura had to wonder if that was really a bad thing.

**Author's Note:**

> And if you were curious, skunks do, indeed, [make noises](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbbcpwEI18k). And they're adorable.


End file.
